FIPP and UPM’s Rising Stars on the importance of innovating industry practices

During the most recent edition of Rising Stars in Media Awards, which took place after the FIPP Insider London event in December 2018, FIPP and UPM celebrated some of the best emerging talent throughout the industry. Here, some of the winners give us their views on why industry recognition is so important.

Thomas Waltasaari, area saales director, UPM

“Well UPM has been supporting FIPP in varying directions for a few years and sponsorship deals but the rising star award especially is one that’s quite important cos it continuously sponsors and generates and assists in the development of people in the media industry which is of course a benefit to the media, but of course it’s supporting an industry like ours. I think media industries like this will always attract creative people with something to say so I don’t think there’s any shortage of people who want to enter in this industry.”

Eveliina Lakka, marketing and communications manager, UPM

“For us, it’s a really important partnership. We want to draw attention to the rising stars and the young talent in the media industry and acknowledge and help them move forward in their careers so it’s a very important initiative for us. We really looked into somebody who is innovating, coming up with new topics, but somebody who has also been brave in putting initiatives forward and that was something we were looking for.”

Ellie Cawthorne, staff writer, Immediate Media

“I work full time at the BBC History magazine, I’m a staff writer but I also do podcasts, occasionally I do stuff for the web and I’ve also done some radio stuff, BBC radio 4 in the past, so it’s all those things together I guess. I think it’s really important because as a young journalist starting out, it’s really really hard to distinguish yourself from a really competitive field. And stuff like the Rising Star award just helps you have a little boost in that regard and something else to add to your CV and set you apart I think.”

Tasnim Nazeer, freelance journalist

“To be recognised by people from the very respectable publications such as the Economist and Beano, which we had today. I think it’s just a great opportunity to get recognised. For those, especially for people like me, who often feel underrepresented in such a competitive media industry, this is definitely a great way of being recognised for all the work.”

Rachel Lawler, editor, Pre-School Learning Alliance

“I think it’s really important for the emerging talent, I think a lot of other awards recognise already established journalists and I think for people at the start of their career it’s important to have some kind of recognition. I definitely think people still want to go into media. I think certainly the big media companies still have that area prestige that other companies don’t necessarily offer. I think it’s an exciting and interesting industry, it’s definitely going through a lot of changes but I think that’s exciting.”

Andy Greening, digital manager, The River Group

“It’s still really super important that the media has got a strong place for trust. You only have to look at the crisis we had at Facebook recently, and how it’s got this big stigma of fake news and people start their own blogs that they got out of nowhere and if they get enough views, people will think that’s somehow trusted news source, but actually it isn’t.”

“So people like the BBC, the Guardian, we’ve seen throughout years and years, even the likes of the Economist, any news source that’s been going for a long time, we’ve seen big, ground-breaking stories come out which effectively seem true or factual, they yeah it’s definitely important that we have ourselves a centre point for news and we always really need journalists who are going to work those spaces, and nurturing them is really important.”

Rebecca Dale, senior digital marketing executive, Immediate

“I sell the content and I wouldn’t be able to sell it unless there were amazing young people bringing that content to the table, so it makes my job a lot easier and also, I work in marketing so it’s great to see young people develop and I think media are really amazing at developing young talents.”

In December, FIPP and UPM announced the winners of the fourth annual Rising Star Awards. Amongst the accolades was the Special Jury Award, given to nine year old editor, Charlie Robinson, of Inside Out Publications.

Following what judges described as the most competitive year since FIPP and UPM’s Rising Stars Awards started in 2015, the Rising Stars winners were announced last night at the FIPP Insider event in London. In addition, three companies were awarded for the high standard of their entries this year.

What better way to reward your up and coming media talent than with a free ticket to the FIPP World Media Congress in Las Vegas, two free nights accommodation at the Planet Hollywood Resort and recognition on the global media stage?

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